Comment on "Limits of the measurability of the local quantum electromagnetic-field amplitude"

Abstract

It is argued that the findings of a recent reanalysis by Compagno and Persico [Phys. Rev. A 57, 1595 (1998)] of the Bohr--Rosenfeld procedure for the measurement of a single space-time-averaged component of the electromagnetic field are incorrect when the field measurement time is shorter than that required for light to traverse the measurement's test body. To this end, the time-averaged "self-force" on the test body, assumed for simplicity to be of a spherical shape, is evaluated in terms of a one-dimensional quadrature for the general trajectory allowed for the test body by Compagno and Persico, and in closed form for the limiting steplike trajectory used by Bohr and Rosenfeld.

arXiv comment5 pages, REVTeX

References in corpus (2)

• Measurability of Electromagnetic Field: Model and Path Integral Methods
• Geometric factors in the Bohr--Rosenfeld analysis of the measurability of the electromagnetic field

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Two-slit diffraction with highly charged particles: Niels Bohr's consistency argument that the electromagnetic field must be quantized
• The electromagnetic self-force on a charged spherical body slowly undergoing a small, temporary displacement from a position of rest
• Geometric factors in the Bohr--Rosenfeld analysis of the measurability of the electromagnetic field
• Comment on 'Self-dressing and radiation reaction in classical electrodynamics'
• Response to Compagno and Persico